Monday, August 15, 2011

Plastics on The Fly Rod

Before I begin, I should warn you, if you are a traditional fly fisherman that believes only hand tied flies belong on the end of a fly line then you may want to stop right here.  But if you go fishing to catch fish and you understand the advantages of using a fly rod to do so, I am about to share something with you that will add to your success on the water.

First a little background.  I have been fishing all my life, or at least most of it.  And while I have dabbled in fly fishing over the years, I have mostly used bait casters.  I have always considered fly fishermen at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to catching fish.  I am not sure why I thought that, but I did.  After some encouragement from a fly fishing pal of mine, Jim Neilson, I decided to pick up a fly rod and try it.  Since I don’t tie my own flies, I bought what my research said was the best flies for catching my favorite fish, the shoal bass.  They worked, sort of.  But I did not have the success I was having using some of my favorite soft plastics on the bait caster.

Despite many of my river fishing friends throwing big baits, I have always done very well with small crawfish and baitfish imitations on my bait caster.  Of course these small plastics required a little weight on the line to be able to cast them.  You just can’t cast a very light weight piece of plastic very far on a bait caster.  So one day I look at my old faithful small plastics and wonder if I could cast on my fly rod?  I asked around on a few sites and I got comments from “try it, it might work” to “that’s not fly fishing .“  But my pal Jim said “try it and let us know how it does.”  Thanks to Jim, I have had my best year on the river ever.  Not only has my catch rate increased but so has my success on big shoal bass.

It makes a lot of sense if you think about it.  This light weight crawfish imitation weighs about what a real crawfish weighs and this baitfish imitation weighs about what a real minnow weighs.  On top of that, the action from these un-weighted baits is almost exactly the action of the real thing.  Very erratic actions and slow falls just like an injured bait.  The un-weighted crawfish just tumbles in the current like a dead or dying crawfish.  What could be better?  A hand tied fly you say?  Not in my experience.

Hand tied baitfish flies do not dart side to side like this plastic baitfish imitation.  Hand tied crawfish patterns fold up when the feathers get wet and are not much more that a wooly bugger.  They will catch some bass but not nearly at the rate I have found with these plastics.  So what are these small plastic baits you ask?  They are the Zoom Super Fluke Jr. and the Yum Craw Papi.  Colors matter too.  My most successful colors are the pearl white and the baitfish colors for the Fluke and the Crawdad color for the Craw Papi.  Others work but these are the closest to the real thing I have found.

Throwing these small plastics on a fly rod is not real easy but with a little practice you can do it.  I use a 7 wt. rod.  A 6wt. seems to be just a little light and an 8wt. is a bear to cast all day.  A 7wt. also has just the right feel to make landing a big bass fun while not being to light that you cannot get them to hand in strong current.  I throw them on straight 15 pound fluorocarbon leaders.  No you don’t need 15 most of the time but 15 pound line sure helps if you get a wind knot and it hold up to a little more abrasion on the rocks.  Another little trick I have learned is using the right hook.  The back cast and the forward cast can “pull the skirts down” on these baits.  You need a hook that will keep them on and not slide down the hook.  The best hook I have found is the Gamakatsu Skip Gap hook.  This hook was designed to skip plastics under docks while holding them on the hook.  They work perfect for casting the baits on the fly rod.

You may not consider casting small plastics on a fly rod fly fishing, and maybe it isn’t?  But I can tell you one thing, if you want to catch more and bigger bass on a fly rod, these baits will do it or my name is not River Pirate.  Try them and let me know how you did.  I bet you catch more and bigger bass than you ever have on a hand tied fly.

The lures and hook:

The Craw Papi rigged:


The Super Fluke Jr. rigged:

The results:

17 comments:

  1. Cool post Randy. Now that I know I can throw something with some meat to it I might give that fly rod a try.

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  2. That's pretty interesting Randy. Neat idea.

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  3. [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/william0215/media/IMGP0293_zpsd8a1ab3e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o758/william0215/IMGP0293_zpsd8a1ab3e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

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  4. Very interesting picture thank you for sharing.....

    Fly Reels

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  5. Randy, I have been doing that in Texas for about 10 years now. Like you I use a 7-wt, although I use 17# mono for a leader. The first time I tried using soft plastics I caught a 5.5# bass at Lake Fork. I use Watermelon Red Zoom Tiny Brush Hogs as well as different colored 6" worms that I bite an inch or two off of.

    I use them mainly in lakes that have heavy vegetation that would be very difficult to use a fly in. I "Texas-Rig" them so that they are weedless and they just glide over the top of the vegetation. They are the only thing that I've ever found that I can use on a fly rod and fish in lily pads without them getting hung up every few feet.

    The lakes I fish in don't have a current so I just let them slowly sink a few feet and move them a few inches at a time. Many, many times I have outfished the baitcasters and caught bigger and more fish than them.

    No, it's not fly fishing per se, but who cares as long as we catch a lot of fish using them.

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  6. I use Owner Twist-Lock hooks which have a corkscrew-type device attached to the hook eye and you just screw the soft plastic onto it. They never come loose.

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  7. I have to admit my purist traditional fly fishing grandfather that wont use anything but bamboo splitcane and hand made reels would roll in his grave but (i have tippet rings and micro swivels in my leader) and im definately trying the plastics

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  10. I've been fishing small plastic lures for years on my flyrods. The best hook I found that work the best is Mister Twister.

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  11. I've been fishing small plastic lures for years on my flyrods. The best hook I found that work the best is Mister Twister.

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  12. Hi, you mentioned your 15lb leader but do you still use a tippet also?
    Cheers

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  13. If you use a fly rod and the weight of the line is carrying the lure, then it's fly fishing. Period. Weather you tie on a fly, or a plastic, or a crankbait, doesn't matter. (I've done all three, and caught fish.)

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  15. Had a good day catching bass in the pads with a small plastic weedless frog using the flyrod, had to use my 9/10 weight for this type of fishing!!!

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  16. The aim of all sport fishing is to get a hook the fish's mouth.
    Its the same with fly fishing, spin fishing, cane pole fishing.
    But whatever it takes to get the job done.

    There are, in fact, a lot of reasons to toss the fly rod aside altogether. Which is something Ive done in 2019.
    For years I've known almost nothing else - now Im finesse fishing soft plastics on spinning gear.
    You know what? I'm catching fish - a lot, actually. Its taken some re-tweaking of my approach, and the rhythm is different. But the two styles play well together - its really fly fishing with different equipment.

    So why not up your fly game with soft plastics?
    It works for me.

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